I. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to data processing and to computer-implemented displays of information, such as reports. More particularly, the invention relates to systems and methods for searching, generating, and displaying reports, such as reports stored in a database that are selectable for viewing by a user.
II. Background Information
In information systems, there is a need to search and display stored information. For example, in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and other planning systems, there is often a need to search and display reports. Reports may comprise any set of stored information, such as the results produced by running a query on one or more databases. Such information may itself be stored in a centralized database or other well-known storage environments (such as distributed database architectures).
Various types of reports are known. By way of example, reports may be financial reports generated for a particular period of time. A financial report may be generated for a particular business unit or may be a company-wide report. Other types of reports, such as inventory reports, cost reports, etc. may also be generated. In certain cases, reports may be generated on a periodic basis to monitor results or other information over specific time periods.
In corporations, business organizations and other environments, a large quantity of reports may be generated. Some of the reports may overlap, while other reports may be identical or similar in type. Further, similar reports may differ only with respect to one or more parameters (e.g., time of report, location, or area of interest, etc.). The relationships between reports are not always evident to the user and can be difficult to sort or determine when searching stored reports or seeking to update old reports.
Generating reports, especially in a large organization, may be very time consuming and resource intensive because the underlying data may be extremely voluminous (e.g., the price, model, options, and other details for each of fourteen million cars sold in a fiscal year) and may have to be downloaded from remote sites across slow network or other communications connections. Consequently, many organizations store reports for future reference so that they need not incur the costs of generating them again.
Basic search tools exist for locating stored reports, such as general-purpose computer or software-enabled search utilities that come with operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows™. For example, the Microsoft search utility allows a user to search for documents based on criteria or parameters such as a document's file name, file creation time, a word or phrase in the document, the document's storage location in the system, including remote location on a network, and the document's size. Such utilities, however, do not provide an efficient nor effective way to search for reports, particularly in environments where many reports are generated and stored, because they require the user to enter specific details and information about the sought-after report, such as listed above. A user, especially one inexperienced at finding the desired report, will typically not have the necessary detailed information to find the desired report, especially if reports are distributed at different locations across a networked system and maintained by different personnel using different naming conventions, formats, etc. Further, if a user searches with generalized information, conventional search utilities will find an excessive number of reports and other extraneous documents, which the user will have to individually consider to filter out the irrelevant set.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved systems and methods for searching, generating, and displaying reports. Furthermore, there is a need for improved search systems and methods for permitting a user to search and identify relevant reports in an efficient and effective manner. Current solutions do not sufficiently address these needs nor address other problems that exist in the art.